Easy Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
Chocolatey, fudgy, and delicious. These easy red velvet crinkle cookies are the perfect holiday or valentines day treat. They have a tasty cake-like texture and are dusted with a generous amount of powdered sugar. Serve these scrumptious cookies with hot chocolate.

Make these gooey, pillowy Santa-approved cookies for the festive season and watch them disappear in seconds! Homemade crinkle cookies are a delight and with this recipe, you will be enjoying them in no time.
Crinkle red velvet cookies are a fun spin on the classic chocolate crinkle cookies and they taste just as good. Plus these red baked goods fit in perfectly with the popular Christmas and Valentine’s Day colors!
Why this recipe works
These yummy cracked-top cookies taste just like red velvet cake and are easy to make. This recipe includes easy-to-find ingredients, cocoa powder, a touch of white vinegar and a few drops of red food dye to get that distinctive red velvet taste.
Ingredient notes

- Unsalted butter: Make sure that the butter is at room temperature when preparing this recipe to achieve the best cookie texture.
- Red food coloring: Use good quality food coloring gel to give the cookies their deep, beautiful red velvet color.
- Cocoa powder: Select good quality cocoa powder for a delicious chocolatey flavor. Sift the cocoa powder to remove lumps.
- White vinegar: This is an essential ingredient in this recipe as it reacts with the baking soda and helps to leaven the cookies.
Recipe variations
If you are a chocolate lover then feel free to add dark chocolate chips or white chocolate chips to the cookie dough after combining the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and follow the rest of the recipe.
You can also make these cookies with cream cheese frosting. Make cream cheese frosting by beating cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Then, add confectioners sugar and vanilla and mix until combined. Once the frosting is ready use it as a filling to make crinkle cookie sandwiches.
How to make red velvet crinkle cookies

- Whisk dry ingredients: Grab a bowl and add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Whisk the ingredients together and set aside.
- Whisk wet ingredients: Beat together butter, sugar and brown sugar for 3 to 4 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Next, add eggs one at a time and mix well each time.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix using an electric mixer.
- Chill the dough: Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350° F: As the dough chills, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven.
- Prepare the dough: Shape it into 1-inch balls and place them on a prepared baking sheet. Make sure they are about 1 1⁄2 inches apart so that they don’t stick together. Once the baking sheet is full, roll the balls in confectioners’ sugar and place them back on the baking sheet.
- Bake cookies: Add cookies to the preheated oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Leave them to cool for 5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
Expert tips
Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature. To achieve the perfect fudgy, chewy texture the butter and eggs must be at room temperature before mixing all of the ingredients.
Use a weighing scale to measure the ingredients. Make sure you use a weighing scale to measure all of the ingredients accurately. If you don’t the texture of the cookies will be affected. For example, adding too much flour can result in dry cookies.
Make equally sized cookies by using a medium cookie scoop.
Store crinkle cookies by placing them in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days or refrigerate them for 1 week.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is likely that the dough was too warm after it was rolled into balls. This happens if you overwork the dough using warm hands while rolling so it is important to work quickly. If you notice the dough is too warm then pop the rolled dough into the fridge for ten minutes before baking to prevent this.
Leavening agents such as baking soda and baking powder give the cookies their notorious crinkle effect. Check that they are fresh and not expired. In addition, coating the cookie dough in sugar also helps to achieve a cracked look.
Yes, crinkle cookies can be frozen. Freeze the dough in an airtight container or wrap it in plastic wrap for up to 3 months. Defrost the dough in the refrigerator before rolling it into balls and baking.
The sugar may have dissolved into the dough before baking. To prevent this ensure that the cookie dough has been chilled before rolling the dough and if it is too warm after rolling then chill it again for another ten minutes.

Related recipes
Give these recipes a try if you like red velvet desserts and crinkle cookies.
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Easy Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (218 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (25 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113 g or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (150 g) sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon red food coloring , (preferably gel)
- 1 cup (120 g) confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer, combine butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add vanilla, vinegar and red food coloring, and mix until combined, about 1 minute scraping down the sides as necessary.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour cocoa mixture. Mix just until combined.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place on prepared baking sheet about 1 1⁄2 inches apart. Once the baking sheet is full, roll the balls in confectioners’ sugar and place back on the baking sheet.
- Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are set and the cookies look cracked. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
4 Comments on “Easy Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies”
I cant click the recipe, why?!
Here is the recipe – https://everydaygoodthinking.com/2017/12/16/red-velvet-crinkle-cookies/
Really good and easy to make!